UPPER MERION — Veterans, citizens, Democrats and Republicans all came together Sunday to protest the government shutdown at Valley Forge National Historical Park. Close to 1,000 protestors rallied outside of the Washington Memorial Chapel before marching on the closed trails.

Protestors disobeyed instructions posted throughout the federal park, warning visitors that facilities were closed to the public. Cars were parked on the grassy shoulders of Valley Forge Road, in nearby commercial parking lots or in the park’s caution-taped lots at the risk of a fine. Carpools were organized on the protest’s Facebook page.

The protest, organized by grassroots organization Citizens for Liberty, consisted of a rally followed by a march along Valley Forge Road from the chapel to the park’s visitor center. Citizens for Liberty was joined by the motorcycle organization Pennsylvania Sons of Liberty Riders, various other organizations and veterans. Protestors rode horses and carried American flags for the march.

Citizens for Liberty’s founding member, Steve Piotrowski, led the day’s events over a PA system set up on a hill overlooking the park.

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“The government can’t shut down the forest,” Piotrowski said. “This is no longer about Democrat or Republican, this is about liberty.”

Carol Sexton began the day’s events by singing America the Beautiful and the crowd joined her.

After the song, Piotrowski introduced the day’s first speaker, his sister-in-law and cofounder of Citizen’s for Liberty, Jackie Piotrowski. “We will not surrender to your unjust laws,” she said, adding that the only way for change was a peaceful walk in the park.

Speaker Darren Wolfe criticized the National Park Service. “The National Park Service shamelessly played their part in this shutdown,” Wolfe said, adding them to a list of bureaucracies at fault over the shutdown. “We do not need them. They need us,” Wolfe said to the applause of the crowd.

Daniel Wissert, DJ with Wissrats Sound who provided the microphone and PA system for the rally, also gave a speech criticizing the federal government. “This is our land. We make the decisions; we are real Americans. Politicians are not the boss. We are,” Wissert said. “We must never let our government run our lives, our country, anything we stand for. Tyranny needs to stop.”

“The idea to take back our federal park and break an unjust law deserves the biggest round of applause for all of you guys,” said Michael Salvi, president of the Pennsylvania Sons of Liberty Riders. “The fact that we are together here today speaks volumes for where we are heading as a country.”

Ryan Wrenchler, dressed in Colonial Garb, gave an impromptu speech at the end of the rally that called the protest a fight for the heart of our nation. “We as patriots must fight for our future, the future of our kids.”

After the last speech, Sexton sang the National Anthem as the crowd readied itself to march.

Piotrowski urged the crowd forward. “We are going to march in the footsteps of 1,000 continental ghosts,” Piotrowski shouted into the microphone. He marched barefoot, saying, “if the continental soldiers could do it in winter for 20 miles all in the name of liberty, I can do it on this beautiful October day.”

As the protestors marched, shouts could be heard up and down Valley Forge Road. Joggers and bikers exercised in the closed park; families could be seen taking pictures in front of monuments. Though a few National Park Service vehicles drove by the protestors, illegally parked cars did not have tickets on their windshields.